Visitors look at the sights during the official opening of "The View" viewing platform at the Shard skyscraper in London.

The 95-story Shard, which is the tallest building in Western Europe, stands at 310 meters (1,016 feet), dwarfing almost everything around it, including nearby Tower Bridge and St Paul's Cathedral.

The Shardskyscraper was described as an "intergalactic spear" and a "cocktail stick" by charismatic Mayor Boris Johnson, who cut the ribbon for the first public visitors atop the 310 metre futuristic tower looming over London bridge.

The Shard is majority owned by Qatar and houses a premium hotel, several restaurants, 12 floors of apartments, 6,00,000 square feet of office space as well as the viewing deck.

It is part of a 2 billion pound ($3.17 billion) redevelopment of the London Bridge area on the south bank of the river Thames, which cuts through the British capital.

The Houses of Parliament, center left, and the London Eye ferris Wheel are seen through a window at the official opening of "The View" viewing platform at the Shard skyscraper in London.